[Prophet Tenebrae]

Having seen the original, I wasn't overly hopeful for this outing and rightfully so.

The Chitauri return and naturally, the Ultimates have to help out… but things are complicated by the lengthy and prosaic process of actually being allowed to kick some ass. Considering that action in cartoons is a lot less costly than it is in live action, you'd have thought they'd be a little less stingy with it but no… even though this "film" clocks in more than fifteen minutes shy of your standard 90 minute fair (including titles) they don't seem in any particular rush to get to the action.

Also – although I felt this to a degree with the comic – for a bunch of people who call themselves "The Ultimates" they're pretty piss poor when it comes to fighting. Sure, it's not uncommon for heroes to get pasted before going home for a horlicks, group hug and then some ass whooping but here pretty much everyone gets pwned multiple times and really it's not that surprising there isn't that much action. They spend more time in the hospital and ferrying back and forth (seriously, 3-4 times) between NY and central Africa.

In truth, despite the brevity of the film, it feels as though the writers struggled to make it last as long as it did. In fact, it almost seems as if they'd tried to stretch out maybe an episode to film length. There is a lot of shameless filler posing as character development… really though, it's just the characters being angsty or irritable. Or remorseful that they just got their asses kicked.

They also manage to go most of the film without Thor or Hulk, both of whom make limited appearances. Most of the show is stolen by the Black Panther. Him and Captain (teenn angst) America hog most of the show… along with that staple of comics, NAZI ALIEN SHAPESHIFTER… still inexplicably "disguised" as a Nazi – presumably so Cap can look at him and go "Hey, you're that guy!"

The animation is for the most part good but it's not really worth the price of admission, IMO.

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